NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Very clear skies, light winds, and dry air across the northwestern majority of the region have allowed temperatures to once again be a bit chilly to start with many northern areas or communities around the higher elevations starting off around or below the freezing mark, but it’s a milder start off to the east through the south with persistent westerly winds going down the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the Northeast Highlands, warming the surface more compared to yesterday, while keeping the higher humidity mostly to the southeast for now.
Tropical moisture in far-Southeast New Mexico will produce a few spotty strong to severe thunderstorms which will move to the northeast as they form with lightning strikes, some hail, and erratic wind gusts as the primary concerns with the storms, but because of still a lot of dry air in the mix, especially throughout the rest of the region, not a lot of rain will fall, as despite a few spotty showers in the Northern Mountains with temperatures reaching the 50s to the 60s, everywhere else will be very sunny with temperatures reaching the 70s to the 80s.
Some rain will remain in East New Mexico, as well as the far-Northern Mountains, through the early weekend, as despite a westward-push of the thunderstorms chances into the East Mountains later this week with East Canyon winds picking up Friday morning, as well as potentially Saturday morning, higher afternoon temperatures on those days will be accompanied by stronger westerly winds pushing in even drier air with more dust returning with the higher fire threat, all before temperatures drop a bit later this weekend into early next week.